Missing quilts

Hi Nancy,

I was just looking at the quilt pictures on your webshots site, and there are two missing.  One is the quilt you made for Christy, and one is the quilt you are holding up in one of your profile pictures.  Rats, I can't find a picture of the quilt you made for Christy.  But here's the Fern Fusing Frenzy quilt:

And then there's the quilt that's behind Christy in the picture in this post.  The reason I got on this subject is an email from one of my friends which said: "Here's something you already know, but it still has to be said:  Your sister is an AMAZINGLY gifted quilter- actually, she's magician with fabric.  I'm still shaking my head with wonder over what she can do." 

And I don't think she had even looked at your webshots site.  Yes, you are an amazingly gifted quilter.  I'm proud of you.  Bang.

Chevron sample quilt

I finally got my chevron quilt top quilted.  I had started quilting it and immediately hated it so it sat for a few months while I brooded.  Then I took Catherine Redford's walking foot quilting class at QuiltED in Grand Forks.  Inspiration!

Here is the quilt, quilted and bound.  I am calling it Thanks Christy.

Chevron Quilt top, unquilted

This is a little quilt, about 21"x 26" total.

Chevron quilting detail with binding still not finished.

Detail of the part of the quilt that is bound.

I will add a picture of the finished quilt when I have it completely bound.
Hugs
Nancy

Exploring

Dear Nancy (and Jeni and Deb),
I liked your post about the Halloween pumpkins.  I believe that last time I had the leisure to carve pumpkins was in Minneapolis.  In Missoula, we only had 2 trick-or-treaters on Halloween.  This is not a neighborhood full of families.  But as Elliot will tell you, there are a lot of dogs.  There are also at least 4 other cats we've noted, one of which is a smallish gray tabby who looks a lot like Elliot, and even wears a collar with a bell, just like Elliot, except it is blue while Elliot's is red.  They sound exactly alike with their little "jingle, jingle, jingle."

The last six weeks have been hectic.  First, applying for a new job.  That necessitated an in-person interview, thus: a 5 hour drive to Missoula, spending a night on Christy's couch, a 3-hour interview next day, and then the drive back to Billings before noon so I could go to work.  But I got the job!  That meant another drive to Missoula to find a place to live, 

                    Clark Fork River in Missoula from the California St. walking bridge - 4 blocks from my house.  I can walk over this bridge to get to Ben and Amanda's in about 20 minutes.

then back to Billings to pack, 

Billings garage during packing frenzy.

then back to Missoula with the truck, unpacking, trying to stuff everything into a different space, then starting my new position at Missoula Public Library with a nice, steep learning curve.  But we like challenges, don't we?

So here is where we live now.

I miss the trees we had in Billings and so does Elliot, but he is getting used to the neighborhood. 

Missoula is an exciting place to live.  It has tons of arts, small funky businesses (like Alpine Canine, that takes your dog on an "adventure hike" while you're at work), and creative non-profits; The Innocence Project, for example. That's where Ben Darrow just got a new position - he started last week.  And they love markets.  They have four open-air markets in the summer, and now they're having two in the winter months as well, at the fairgrounds and in an old barn on the edge of town.

The thrift stores can't compare with the Goodwill in Billings.  I guess that too many people are into recycling here and so the competition is fierce!  In my vast experience (Whitefish, Kalispell, Billings, Missoula, and any I happen to get to visit), the Billings Goodwill on King Street is the best in the state.  And I'm thinking of writing a book, necessitating my visits to every thrift store in the state, heh heh.  Don't you think people would buy a book like that?    Would you like to finance my project?

However, I really can't complain regarding thrift stores - there is a thrift store right around the corner from my house AND I went to find my polling place today, at the Sr. Citizens Center - and there is a thrift store in there too!  Look:

They sell quilt blocks!  And material!  And Yarn!

I found some 84% wool/14% alpaca there!

I finally got my bike out and went exploring along the Riverfront Trail.

Looking south across the Clark Fork at Kiwanis Park.

Clark Fork Natural Area along the Riverfront Trail.

Snowboarders working hard to build a ramp at Caras Park.

I found that it's only 10 minutes riding time to get to work using that trail.

And there's been some leisurely hiking taking place too, in the Blue Mountain Recreation Area that's on the edge of town: 

 This  might be happening quite a bit, because now Christy has a dog!  Her name is Scout.

Brian, Christy, and Scout walking in Blue Mountain Recreation Area.

Much love to all of you.
Mary

A picture of a quilt

I've been meaning to post this picture of Christy in the living room at the farm, and especially the quilt on the wall behind her. I adore the colors on it - it's a one-block wonder quilt, isn't it?

Quilts and more quilts

Hi Mary,

OK already, I think you found Christy's quilt on my webshots page, but here is one you haven't seen yet. I finished it about a week ago. I have been working on it, off and on, for more than two years. It is a pattern I found at the quilt market in Kansas City one spring. Bee Creative Studios is the name of the designer. Hollyhocks and Hummers is the name of the pattern. I call it Paula's Hollyhocks because I went to Paula's Restaurant in Mayville, North Dakota to get some better details of buds and seed pods for the quilt. Paula's has had Hollyhocks growing at the back of the restaurant for years.

My niece Joanna helped me draw the buds and just opening flowers. Then I put it away for a few months. The next spring I got it out and chose fabrics and got it marked but not cut. Then I finally cut and appliqued the leaves last year. This year I finished the flowers and the buds and got it quilted. One word of advice to anyone else doing this. Use batting that won't pull through the fabric or use black batting. The white batting I used somehow came through the batik background fabric and it looked like a cat had been laying on it for years. What a pain.

If you ask I will tell you how I 'fixed' it but only if you ask. Otherwise it is a secret. HA!

Love,

Nancy

It's Whitefish Lake

Nancy! I looked at that quilt and said, "That looks like Whitefish Lake," and then I read your post. Yes, I do like it! That is one of my favorite scenes - the lake in winter. It's quiet, and icy blue and white, with all the subtle colors of winter. Here's the picture that I think of when I see that quilt...

...and some more we took that day. It was the morning of the day we got married.

Gee, I'm starting to feel all sentimental. This anniversary will be the first one that the Ol' Bear is on a cruise and we won't be together. Sigh. Oh well, what matters is that we're still having an anniversary, and we'll be thinking of each other on that day. Honestly, usually I'm the one that forgets. In fact, Christy and he have a running joke about if I'll remember or not! And no, I don't think you should cut anything off it!

Visiting Missoula

Elliot and I received a visitor from North Dakota recently. 

 

The days were filled with treks to the local sites, interspersed with naps.  When you see how much we did, you will understand the naps.
1. 2 estate/yard sales, in which quilts, jars, and really cool Thriftmas presents were bought (remind me to get Neil to tell you about Thriftmas);

2. Two quilt stores, naturally.  Timeless Quilts and Vicki's Quilts Down Under;

3. The neighborhood thrift shop: The Bargain Corner;
4. Clark Fork Market where we did not buy huckleberries but saw many;

5. Missoula Public Library, and dog knows what else.
We also had the honor to be photographers at Neil & Christy's new house. Here they are with The Doogs at the 120-year-old house they now own on Cooper Street:

There was also time for a barbecue which featured Ruby and marshmallows. The marshmallow languished on the end of the stick while she was mesmerized by the flames and heat from the charcoal.

Ooh.  And note the wind chimes hanging above Nancy.  We enjoyed those as long as she was here.  I wonder if she's got them up at home yet? 

Love you, Nancy, and miss you.  Tell everyone how comfy the guest bedroom is, and maybe they'll come visit too.

 

Billings, Days four, three, two and one

I have wanted to visit my sister Mary for a while now, but kept finding excuses to put it off.  Then a friend wanted a "Pony Express" delivery for three sewing machines from Missoula to Wisconsin.   So Christy, Mary's daughter, brought the machines to Billings and I came to Billings to visit Mary and pick up the sewing machines for delivery to the River Rat Toga in September.

Mary knows I collect old sewing machines and she wanted a machine to sew with.  Since she hasn't moved much of her furniture to the little house in Billings I used that as an excuse.  This little Singer Model 66, previously electric but now a hand crank in a cute little desk, was delivered to Mary.  

Before delivery I cleaned and oiled and greased the machine.  It is not perfectly clean because I am nervous about taking apart things like the Bobbin Winder,  but much of it is shiny and good looking and all the insides are clean and in good order.

Mary took me to a beautiful quilt store in Billings called Fiberworks, her excuse being that she needed some fabric to play on her machine with.  (I needed no excuse) Oh such fun fabrics. I managed to find a few things to bring home.  Mary bought two fat 1/8ths and made this little bag in just a few minutes.  She is all ready to put a ribbon through the top to close it with, once she finds a ribbon, and she still has another 1/8th to play with.

Monday evening we went to the opening game of the 2010 season of the Billings Mustangs.  They have a new ballpark called Dehler Park which is very nice.  They won 11 to 4 over the Great Falls team and we had lots of fun and two lemonades each.  We didn't have any caramel apples.    Such restraint!

This is the fancy new scoreboard showing a picture of the Western Heritage Center which is the original library here in Billings.

After breakfast at Stella's on Monday we went for a walk in a Riverside Park which is affiliated with the Audubon Society here in Billings.  This park has a nice walk along a small river that flows into the Yellowstone River.  This is the Yellowstone River at that point.  Here is proof that we were there.  Jim is standing quite close to the edge isn't he?    The river was running quite fast, probably because of the rain and hail (and tornado) that we had yesterday.

After the storm on Sunday, the clouds cleared away and Mary took me up on the 'Rims' to get a look at the wild flowers and to see this view of mountains hovering over the city.  Cool eh?

Here is the new moon over the city, and then a picture of Mary taking a picture of a Yucca plant.  Evidently this was a highlight of the walk for her.  She has wanted to see a blooming Yucca for some time.   There were some blooms that had been hailed off the plants and we touched them.  They are very strange and waxy feeling.  You could say they feel Yucky.

This last picture was taken on the way into Billings on Saturday.  These horses were up on the range overlooking the freeway.  I was way far away and had to zoom this as far as I could so you could get a glimpse of the horses.  They looked so neat and western up there.

This last morning our plans are to go to the Dude Rancher for Breakfast and then visit Mary at her Library before leaving for home.

It has been a very nice visit and next time I am staying longer.

Thanks Mary for a great time!